HERstory: Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood was a fearless advocate for radical change in the fashion industry.
81 years ago, the world was plagued by World War II, naturally stalling fashion. People were either seen in their uniforms or limited styles due to rationing. Today, the world of fashion looks very different.
While fashion can be beautiful, exciting, and creative … overconsumption, overproduction, and waste run rampant in the industry. Luckily, there are daring and outspoken designers who not only want to see change but be the change. Notably, Vivienne Westwood.
Vivienne Westwood famously used her eclectic collections, collaborations, and impactful runway shows as her political platform and stage. An agent for radical change, she was constantly promoting awareness and campaigning for a better world. What I love about the Vivienne Westwood brand is that they don’t just exist to make apparel, but to make real, crucial, and lasting changes that the fashion industry desperately needs.
I am a fashion designer and activist, you all know what I’m up to. I use fashion as a vehicle for activism.
-Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood was an activist first, then a designer, whose fighting spirit was reflected through her namesake brand. In her 2014 biography, she states “The only reason I am in fashion is to destroy the word ‘conformity. Nothing is interesting to me unless it’s got that element.”
Over the past two decades, she supported hundreds of causes, non-profit organizations, grassroots charities, and campaigns. She also launched her campaign movement called Climate Revolution, and on top of that, she was an ambassador for an independent global campaigning network called Greenpeace.
In 2012, Vivienne launched Climate Revolution. She rallied charities, non-profits, and individual people to join forces and take action against uncaring political leaders and big businesses. She also wrote an activist Manifesto called Active Resistance to Propaganda which was meant to be a stimulus to save the planet for future generations.
As most of us are aware, the fashion industry's harmful practices and waste drastically contributes to climate change. I admit... I used to be a huge overconsumer and some (maybe most) might even say a shopaholic. I enjoy shopping, switching up my style from time to time, buying the latest pieces, etc. However, over a year ago, I had a wake-up call when I realized just how much I was overconsuming.
While I made the effort to donate the clothes I didn’t want anymore, what about the clothes that were worn out or torn? That’s right…to the trash they went.
One day I asked myself “Where do all my clothes go when I discard them?” This prompted my research, and in doing so, I learned that about 85% of clothes thrown away in the US are dumped into landfills or burned. The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothes every year - about the size of an 11-year-old child. And to think this is just in the U.S.
The global textile waste crisis is alarming. And so vocal critics and courageous designers like Vivienne Westwood are crucial in the industry. She reminds us to “Buy Less, Choose Well, and Make It Last.”
An icon for change, Vivienne launched a celebrity campaign called Save The Arctic through Greenpeace in 2013. This exhibition took place in London, showcasing 60 portraits of celebrities wearing Vivienne Westwood “Save The Arctic” unbleached t-shirts. What I particularly love about this exhibition was the physical positioning of the portraits, each situated along the escalators that led up to the oil company, Shell, who started drilling in the Arctic.
All proceeds from the t-shirts were donated directly to Greenpeace.
In the same year, and support of the charity organization Cool Earth, Vivienne and her husband Andreas traveled with The Times to visit the Asháninka rainforest project that they funded. They spent a week living with the tribe in the Peruvian Amazon and even lobbied the Peruvian government on their Forestry Programme.
Vivienne continued to support the organization through numerous projects and even dedicated two fashion shows to them, with the most recent one being the 2018 Viviene Westwood x Burberry collaboration.
“First step to save the environment: switch to green energy. We must rely on cooperation and collaboration to maximize our impact and we must act now! What’s good for the planet is good for the economy.”
In 2017, Vivienne Westwood, alongside the British Council & Mayor of London, joined forces to launch the Switch To Green campaign, which encouraged the fashion community to join the Vivienne Westwood brand in switching to renewable energy suppliers or a renewable energy tariff.
In just one year, ~355 million kilowatt hours were sourced from green energy, avoiding the equivalent of 125 tonnes of CO2 emissions, from electricity used by fashion brands and a total of 1,109 UK retail stores signed up to the campaign. 1 This is what true change looks like … these brands actually took action.
Vivienne has also supported the #FurFreeBrittain campaign by Humane Society International, whose aim was to secure a UK fur sales ban.
There are countless examples of bold actions like these that Vivienne took throughout her life.
Although Vivienne’s involvement in the fashion industry may seem contradictory to her activism, if one takes the time to research the way she operated her namesake brand, the charities & organizations she supported, and the campaigns she launched, one will see that she needed to be in the industry to be an example of change. She infiltrated a harmful system to show us all that things can be done differently.
Vivienne Westwood died peacefully at the age of 81 on December 29th, 2022. She was a trailblazer, an activist to the end who unapologetically fought for a better world, and one of the greatest architects of British fashion.
Throughout her life, she constantly reminded us and showed us how fashion can be used to positively influence society. It is my hope that the legacy of positive activism through the fashion industry that she bequeathed us will live on for generations to come.
#VivienneWestwood #FashionTalk #FashionTouchesEverything
As we remember Vivienne Westwood’s life and legacy, what was her most positive influence in the fashion industry?
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“Switch to Green Campaign.” WWW.VIVIENNEWESTWOOD.COM, https://www.viviennewestwood.com/en/sustainability/activism/switch-to-green/.